Interesting Facts of so called pralaya

According to Vishnu Purana and Agni Purana, word pralaya has a new meaning and it is of 4 types. Literally pralaya means merging or dissolving of one element with another. For eg: Ice turns into water when a room temperature is low. Here, ice was merged into water. If you add energy to water (heat it), it turns into hot water and if that hot water is burned again, it merges into gas or air in the universe. The gas finally merges into space (akasha) which we cannot see it. This same kind of process happens during pralaya but in huge degree.

There are 4 different types of pralayas: Praakritik Pralaya, Naimittik Pralaya, Atyantik Pralaya and Nitya Pralaya.

Nitya pralaya: If we observe Nature we find that in every nook and corner change is taking place (Grass dries up, and flowers wither, etc). Continuous and eternal change is the order of Nature. Every hour, every minute of every hour, a change is taking place in the human body too since it is a product of nature. In man every second there is a dead body cells and replaced with new cells.

Even the deep sleep is called nitya-pralaya.

Recommended By Colombia

When the living beings are absorbed in deep sleep (dream-less state), the material senses become merged with the mind, then the mind become merged with the soul or consciousness and goes into a dormant condition. Although the senses and mind are inactive, one remembers upon waking that he, the soul, was peacefully sleeping.

When your sleep is completed, the soul mind merges back into the physical body or senses. But sometimes that merger isn't smooth. Have you ever gone through a day where you've said "I feel like I'm not here." or "I feel spaced out."? In many cases this "feeling" is the result of an incomplete merging (or emerging out from mind) of soul mind back to the physical body. In essence, you are partially spaced out. You can correct this feeling through meditation. During the meditation, imagine the two components interconnecting and merging back into one whole person.

Even the material death of living beings is called nitya pralaya since it takes daily. The physical body is composed of five great elements or the Mahabhutas of material nature, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether. Hardness of the body is due to the portion of earth; the fluidity is due to portion of water; the warmth that you feel in the body is due to fire; moving to and fro and such other activities are due to air; space is due to Akasha or ether. Jivatma or the individual soul is different from the five elements.

After death, these elements are dissolved and reach their primordial sources from the inexhaustible storehouse of nature. The element of earth goes and joins its storehouse of Prithvi Tattva. Pranas or the vital airs (breath we take daily) dissolve with their counterparts in the external air. Similarly, other elements also go back to their sources.

Naimittika Pralaya or Praakritik Pralaya is something that we are worried about. During this kind of pralaya, there will be heavy rain on the earth for 100 years. This process is the merging of Earth element of this universe into Water element. At that time the shell of the universe will fill up with water to form a single cosmic ocean. As the entire universe is flooded, Water will rob Earth of its unique quality of Fragrance and Earth deprived of its distinguishing quality will be dissolved. There will be also no rain on the earth for 100 years prior to the heavy rain. The sun will drink the water of the oceans, of the living bodies and of the earth itself. But the devastating sun will not give rain in return for several years. This process is the merging of Water element of this universe into Fire element. This process continues further: Fire element merges into Air element, Air element merges into Ether (space) element. Everything is wound up and finally inhaled (whole universe merges) back into God. When the creation is started by God, all these elements emerges out. What a system God has created!

Atyantik Pralaya, also termed as Moksha, is the final deliverance or the attainment of salvation by a soul and after that the soul is never again take birth on this material earth. It is the final dissolution of a soul (i.e. atma), thereby eliminating its individualism into the eternal almighty (i.e. Paramatma). This seem to be the real pralaya that souls need to beworried about. :)